


Primal Instincts

by speccygeekgrrl



Series: MST3K Alternate Universes [7]
Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Kinga fucks up bigtime, Max doesn't let her get away with it, Multi, Were-Creatures, mostly because Max is a good hearted person, this is surprisingly cozy despite all that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 14:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12110943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speccygeekgrrl/pseuds/speccygeekgrrl
Summary: Not satisfied with accidentally turning Jonah into a werewolf, Kinga sets out to deliberately do something like that to Max. The last thing she expects is for Max to turn it around on her too. Maybe doing it 20 minutes before the critical moon phase wasn't the wisest decision she's ever made.





	Primal Instincts

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Restricted Work] by [speccygeekgrrl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/speccygeekgrrl/pseuds/speccygeekgrrl). Log in to view. 



> First, Feenie wrote werewoof!Jonah.
> 
> Then I wrote werewoof!Jonah/Max.
> 
> Then Feenie wrote werewoof!Jonah/bakery AU.
> 
> Now I'm writing werewoof!Jonah/werebear!Max/were(I don't want to spoil it)!Kinga.
> 
> GUYS THIS IS GETTING OUT OF CONTROL WHAT ARE WE DOING 
> 
> AUCEPTION
> 
> WE MUST GO DEEPER
> 
> (*sobs* someone stop me I'm losing my mind and i like it)

"There you are," Kinga said impatiently as soon as Max came into the lab. "Here, hold this." She pushed a large box into his arms.

"What is it?" Max asked. 

"A diversion," she said, and sprayed a puff of something in his face. He squeaked in surprise and then started coughing and couldn't stop.

"What-- what the-- _hell_ \-- Kinga--" He could barely get the words out between the coughing. The box fell out of his grip and he doubled over, trying to catch his breath and not getting it for a couple of minutes. She picked up a clipboard as soon as he started coughing and took a few notes, looking completely unaffected when he finally straightened up and glared at her. "What the fuck?"

"Oh, calm down."

"No! What did you just do to me?"

"Don't be a baby, it's just an aerosol version of something I already know works."

" _What_ works?"

"Okay, okay, I tweaked it a little, it's not exactly the same--"

"Kinga!"

"You might... uh... Jonah might not be the only one afflicted when the moon's right any more." Max's face paled and he pressed a hand to his mouth. "But you probably won't be a wolf," she added.

"What. Did you do to me."

"Youmightturnintoabear," she said all in a rush. He looked down at the floor, taking a few slow, deep breaths, and then he walked past her and grabbed another one of the devices on the counter and sprayed her in the face with it. "Max! What the--" He folded his arms and stared impassively as she was struck with the same coughing fit she'd put him through. "How _dare_ you," she gasped, and he scoffed.

"I'm sure you made sure it was safe for humans before you attacked me with it," he said. "Right? No problem. So you might turn into a bear. Science is cruel, huh?"

"That wasn't a bear," she said, and grabbed the device out of his hands. "16... 16..." She looked down at her clipboard and back up at him with a poisonous glare. "Max, you idiot."

"Is it going to turn you into a snake? Because you're a snake. You're a viper."

"Reptiles? Really? I've barely got the hang of mammals," she said, walking past him to fling everything in her hands on the counter and then press the heels of her hands into her eyes. "Just... get out."

"You have some nerve."

"Get _out_!" That suited him fine. He was starting to feel lightheaded and overheated already. He was acutely aware that the moon phase was almost where it needed to be to trigger the change; he'd been looking forward to spending time with Jonah in defiance of Kinga's wishes. Jonah.... Jonah might know what to do.

"Max? What happened to you? You look like hell," Jonah said as soon as the connection was made. Max managed a shaky smile, not knowing that he looked like he was about to burst into tears.

"Kinga's not done playing god," he said, and Jonah's brows lifted. "She did it to you with an injection... so of course she thought turning it into a spray form was a good idea." Jonah's eyes widened.

"You're... a werewolf?" Max shook his head.

"A werebear, apparently." The look on Jonah's face went very weird for a second before straightening out into concern. "What was that?"

"I'm sorry this is happening to you," Jonah said. "I just... thought about you as a bear and it was really cute, I'm sorry." 

"I got her back," Max said. "I don't know what she's going to become. She just said not a bear."

"So all three of us are afflicted now?" Max nodded. Jonah bit his lip, looking up in thought, and then focused on Max again. "Bring me down there."

"Right now?"

"You won't be able to do it after, and time is running out. Yeah, now." He didn't look up when the tube came down. Max ran over to the Backjack only to find Jonah climbing out of it already. He didn't even say anything at first, just wrapped his arms around Max snugly. "I'm so sorry that you work for the most fucked up mad scientist I can think of," he said after a moment, pulling back to look down at Max with concern in his eyes.

"It's-- it could be worse," Max said with a shrug. "It could have killed me."

"We don't know what it's going to do," Jonah reminded him, and Max sighed.

"Well, whatever it does to me, she'll be getting it too. Not exactly justice, but the closest thing I'm likely to get."

"How is that not justice?"

"She deserves it to be twice as bad for doing it to both of us."

"Fair point," Jonah said, and he kissed the top of Max's head. "Come on, I can feel the moon making my skin itch already. I wish I could tell you the change doesn't hurt like a son of a bitch, but it does." They passed Kinga on their way to Max's room, and she glared daggers at them.

"Fuck you, Max."

"You are such a child," Max spat back. "I hope this is the worst thing you've ever felt." Her jaw dropped and she stopped in shock, and he slammed the door behind them leaving her in the hall. Then he reeled back against the door, wide-eyed. "Oh my god, I've wanted to tell her off so many times, but I never thought that this--"

"Forget her," Jonah said. "You're the one I'm worried about. Did she say what kind of bear?"

"Does it matter?"

"I'm not sure," Jonah said. "You're bigger than a sun bear and smaller than a brown bear. But I'm not sure if I conserve mass when I become a wolf or what."

"With all the tests she's done, she'd probably know that."

"Forget her," Jonah said again, and he started unbuttoning Max's jacket. Max blinked.

"Is now the time for this?"

"You're not gonna want to be wearing that when you change," Jonah said. "The jumpsuit is pretty adaptable. What you're wearing is less so." 

"Oh... point," he said. "Not that I ever want to dissuade you from undressing me anyways..."

"Save it, loverboy," Jonah said with a laugh. "Survival first."

"I probably won't die," Max said, shrugging out of his coat and pulling at the neck of his t-shirt. "Might just wish I did, though." Jonah pulled at his t-shirt, and Max huffed a laugh as he let him pull it off. "You tell me to save it and then keep undressing me."

"Bears are big," Jonah said. 

"I'm not small," Max said, and Jonah wobbled a hand in the air. "I'm not _tall_ but I'm not small either."

"You're perfect," Jonah said, "and you probably want to take your pants off too."

"Why don't I just take it all off?"

"I don't know, do you have a sense of modesty?"

"Is a sense of shame the same thing?"

"In modern American society? Pretty much..." Max left his boxers on. They were printed with a variety of polyhedral dice. "You should probably lie down. This is going to suck," Jonah said. 

"Well, what about you?" Max said, but he did as he was told. 

"Don't worry about me, this isn't my first rodeo," Jonah said, and he sat down in front of the bed, reaching up to squeeze Max's hand. "It'll hurt, but you'll be okay. I promise." Neither of them pointed out that he couldn't reasonably make that promise even though they both knew it. He started to say something else but didn't even get a word out before the change hit the both of them, wrenching cries of pain out of transforming bodies. 

Max thought he knew what pain was, after a life spent as a sadistic mad scientist's second banana. He swiftly discovered that he'd had no fucking idea as his bones cracked and reshaped and fur pushed through his skin, a spasm of agony that felt like it would never end until suddenly it was over. He caught his breath, which took a minute, and then slowly opened his eyes to find Jonah right in front of him, wolfshaped but with concern shining through his eyes. He licked Max's nose and Max huffed and reached out for him, pausing when he saw his own hand and then looking down at himself. Then he rolled off the bed and went to look at himself in the mirror, trying to convince himself not to freak out.

He was, in fact, a bear. A brown bear, with a silver blaze at the top of his head, looking absolutely ridiculous in his D&D dice boxers, bulky and clumsy looking.... but his eyes were the same, wide and brown and a bit panicky until Jonah came up behind him and hugged him. Max was a little regretful that he was still the same size relative to Jonah... it might have been nice to be a little more tall and a little less broad, but it was what it was. Max tried to make a sound and then clapped a paw over his muzzle when he heard it come out-- bear sounds were _angry_. He met Jonah's eyes in the mirror and sighed.

Jonah gave him a tug on his shoulder-- _come on_ \-- and they managed to get the door open and go out into the hallway. Jonah was graceful when he was changed, long loping strides. Max was... ungainly. Lumbering. Basically, just like a bear. Unfortunate. He knew where he was going, though, leading Jonah down the hall and plunking himself down just outside of Kinga's room. Whatever she'd turned into... she was going to get an earful from him.

It was only a few minutes later that her door cracked open and a pointed red and white face with black ears peeked out. As soon as Kinga caught sight of Max and Jonah she bared her teeth and made a chattering sound. Max almost laughed. A red panda? Where the hell had she even gotten red panda DNA from? He pushed her door the rest of the way open with one long-clawed paw and she took a swipe at him. As far as Max knew, red pandas were tiny, but apparently conservation of mass _was_ a thing with this were-animal business because she was just as tall as ever-- although with a bushy red-and-white tail as long as herself over again lashing behind her. No matter, he was still almost twice her size and could finally make use of that fact. He got up in her face and growled-- holy shit, he was angry, but the sound he made was positively murderous. She flinched and took a step back, making an alarmed birdlike chirp, and Max... sat back on his haunches and sighed.

He'd wanted to tell her off almost as long as he'd known her, but this sort of visceral aggression wasn't who he was, wasn't who he wanted to be. Just because he _could_ terrorize her now didn't mean he should. Behind him, Jonah made a questioning whine, and Max huffed and turned his back on Kinga, knocking his shoulder against Jonah's as he walked down the hall. Jonah kept pace with him, and they both ignored the indignant chirp behind them.

At first they just wandered around. Max was familiar with all of Moon 13, but he'd never paid attention to how it _smelled_ before. Max followed his nose, and Jonah followed Max, and every so often one of them would catch a flash of red fur behind them as Kinga slunk along... spying on them, Max assumed, and ignored her. Eventually they ended up back in Max's room, since it was the one place that didn't smell like science or sterility, and also it was where the box of toys was. Fetch was out of the question, but it turned out that the rope toy was way more fun for Max when he actually had some strength to put into it, and in fact he was stronger than Jonah like this, which surprised the both of them. 

They ended up in a cuddle puddle on the bed, Jonah curled up and Max curled around him, neither of them entirely sure what else to do when they couldn't really use their hands and they couldn't talk to each other. When Kinga poked her nose through the doorway, Max put a paw over his eyes and sighed heavily. _What now?_

It was profoundly unfair that she'd turned into something so ridiculously cute. She came into the room hesitantly, ears flattened, and made a questioning chirp. Max and Jonah just looked at her impassively, which she took as permission in her usual entitled way, even though her body language wasn't screaming arrogance as loudly as it did when she was human. She approached the bed with her eyes fixed on them, waiting to be dissuaded, and set her chin on the edge of the bed when they let her make it that far without protest, making a quiet sad sound. Max got it all at once-- she was _lonely_ \-- and even though he was still angry, even though this was all her fault, Max knew he was never going to be able to totally extinguish the torch he still carried for her despite all the bullshit she put him through and despite the fact that he was certain that he loved Jonah. This was a weird, scary experience, and he could never hate her so much that he didn't want to reassure her through it.

Carefully, he reached out one paw and touched her cheek, and her ears perked up. She made a soft chattering sound and looked at Jonah. He tilted his head and whined uncertainly, and Max huffed behind his ear, the closest thing to a friendly sound he could make when bear noises all sounded angry despite his best intentions. Jonah uncurled himself, yawned widely, and patted the bed in front of him. Max's bed was barely big enough for the two of them, but Kinga flowed up into the little space that was left, curling her long fluffy tail over the both of them as she made herself comfortable. She chirped again and patted first Max and then Jonah with one paw.

If she thought she was being let off the hook, she'd have another think coming as soon as Max could verbalize his thoughts again. But they couldn't hash anything out if they couldn't talk it through, and... honestly, they could all use the reassurance. What the hell. After being turned into a bear, nothing else could out-weird that... even cuddling with his nightmare boss and his sweet-hearted boyfriend at the same time while they were all animal shaped. Max had thought his life was weird before this. He was pretty sure it was only going to get exponentially weirder from this day on.


End file.
